One step from the final four.

One more win and the Edmonton Drillers are on to the National Professional Soccer League conference final. The little team that could.

The team that refused to quit, the team that kept plugging away and then started knocking off the heavyweights. Rocky and Rudy rolled into one.

"Once the season's over and we look back, we'll think, 'Wow, we did some great things,' " said forward Carmen D'Onofrio.

"But right now we're still involved in it, still caught up in the moment, so we haven't had a chance to step back to look at what we've accomplished."

The Drillers and St. Louis Ambush line up tonight for the deciding game in the National Conference semifinals. The winner advances to the best-of-five conference final against the Kansas City Attack.

"We're not going to be satisfied until we're in the final," said Shayne Campbell. "Every single guy here believes we can get there. We won't be able to reflect on what we've done until then."

Well, others have. From their opponents to the league officials in Canton, Ohio. The Ambush have made four straight trips to the division finals, winning it all in 1995. The Drillers have no history to fall back on, only standards to set.

In 1992, after the Major Indoor Soccer League folded, the Cleveland Crunch joined the NPSL. Dubbed a first-year team, they steamrolled through the competition all the way to the championship round. The Drillers, despite shedding all but two players -- Nick DeSantis and Bill Sedgewick -- are a relocated franchise, built from the remains of the Chicago Power.

And no team has ever scripted this kind of turnaround. The Power were 6-34 last year, dead last in their division.

"The Drillers are the talk of the league," said NPSL spokesperson Chuck Murr. "Players will come up to me if I'm at another series to inquire as to what Edmonton is doing. They've kind of captured the fancy of everybody around here."

They have won 10 of their last 12 games, including back to back playoff wins against the Milwaukee Wave. They came within a minute of knocking off St. Louis in the opener of this series, then hammered the Ambush 19-9 the next day.

"Now we go there and we work our butts off," said forward Lloyd Barker.

"The same goal is at hand -- wrapping it up."

"Everyone has a great outlook," said D'Onofrio. "We're all very confident because for all intents and purposes this series should be over. If we play the same way we did Sunday, the same way we did Saturday, we'll win."

They are young, enthusiastic and committed. Factor in the team speed, the team chemistry, their skills and they have what it takes to keep on rolling.

"Two months ago, we said it was going to be harder to get to the playoffs than it was to do well in the playoffs," said Martin Dugas.

"We had a lot of ground to catch up on. By the time we learned how to play the game, were we going to be in a position to show what we could do? Then we learned how to win the close games and learned how to open up a game quickly.

"Now we have nothing to lose. Zero. When we look across and see our opponents as equals, as opposed to looking up to them, we're no longer surprised by what we see them do."

This is not a season they will forget or ever repeat. A team of rookies thrown together three weeks before the season began, a franchise shipped to Edmonton two months before camp and Canada's first entry in the playoffs.

"It's amazing," said defender Todd Rattee.

"We were only supposed to win four games. And here we are in the second round of the playoffs and we have a good chance of going through to the third round to the conference championship. It feels great."

 DRILL BITS

DO OR DIE: The Edmonton Drillers square off against the St. Louis Ambush tonight in the deciding game of the National Conference semifinals. The winner advances to the conference final against Kansas City, the loser calls it a season.

ON YOUR MARK: Kickoff is 6:35 p.m. at the Kiel Centre with 10 minutes of preamble on CKER-FM 101.9 on your radio dial.

HEAD TO HEAD: The Ambush scored in the dying minutes of the opener to post a 19-18 win; the Drillers responded a day later with a 19-9 victory.

THEY SAID IT: ``It wouldn't surprise me if it goes three games, goes down to the last minute or two of the third.'' -- St. Louis coach Daryl Doran, days before the series started